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Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants

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Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality Volume 30 Issue 1 Article 3 June 2012 Arctic Justice: Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants Elizabeth Burleson Stephanie Dodson Dougherty Follow this and additional works at: https://lawandinequality.org/ Recommended Citation Elizabeth Burleson & Stephanie Dodson Dougherty, Arctic Justice: Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants, 30(1) LAW & INEQ. 57 (2012). Available at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/lawineq/vol30/iss1/3 Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality is published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. 57 Arctic Justice: Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants Elizabeth Burlesont & Stephanie Dodson Doughertytt Introduction Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), anthropogenic chemicals produced for or by agricultural and industrial uses, contaminate all regions of the world.! There are three general categories of POPs: pesticides (including insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides), industrial chemicals, and unintentionally produced byproducts of certain chemical and combustion processes.2 The pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is perhaps the most well known of the POPs.' It was heavily relied upon during World War II to control the spread of certain diseases and is still used to control malaria in several developing nations.' Another POP is a class of chemicals collectively known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are widely used as dielectric fluid in transformers and capacitors. Dioxins are an example of unintentionally produced POPs.' These are chemicals released by incomplete combustion or by the manufacture of certain pesticides.' Although these chemicals are produced for beneficial purposes (or as a byproduct), it has become apparent t. Professor Elizabeth Burleson has an LL.M. from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. She teaches at Pace Law School and writes reports to the United Nations. tt. Stephanie Dodson Dougherty, J.D. candidate 2012, Florida State University School of Law. She has expertise in ecology and marine biology fieldwork. 1. UNITED NATIONS ENV'T PROGRAMME, RIDDING THE WORLD OF POPS: A GUIDE TO THE STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS 3 (2005), available at http://chm.pops.int/Portals/0/Repository/CHM-general/UNEP- POPS-CHM-GUID-RIDDING.English.PDF. 2. JACK WEINBERG, AN NGO GUIDE TO PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS: A FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION To PROTECT HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT FROM PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS (POPS) 10 (2008), available at http://www.ipen.org/ipenweb/documents/ipend.html. 3. Id. at 9. 4. UNITED NATIONS ENV'T PROGRAMME, supra note 1, at 2. 5. WEINBERG, supra note 2, at 36. 6. Id. at 9. 7. Id. at 21. 58 Law and Inequality [Vol. 30:57 that they cause extensive harm to the environment and to personal health.' Agricultural and industrial processes release these toxic chemicals into the environment where they are readily incorporated into biological systems, especially those of Arctic marine mammals.' The twentieth century ushered in a chemical revolution as technological improvements and laboratory science blossomed." The first mass development of synthetic chemicals occurred in the 1920s." This development brought widespread chemical use into 1 manufacturing and transformed industry. 2 The 1940s and 1950s 1 saw the use of a wide variety of chemicals. 3 Today, traces of these chemicals are in the tissues of every living human and a staggering percentage of global wildlife.14 In 2001, world leaders and diplomats gathered for the Stockholm Convention on POPs, where they signed an international treaty aimed at reducing and eventually eliminating POP production and use." This Article will explore the modern problems posed by POPs, recent exposure studies, the Stockholm Convention's approach, and recommendations for increased likelihood of success in eliminating POPs. Part I describes the negative global impacts associated with POPs. Part II explains the Arctic's unique vulnerability to POP accumulation. Part III discusses marine mammals as sentinels for ocean and human health. Part IV elucidates the challenges POPs present to the Arctic peoples. Part V highlights the regional problems that brought POPs into the international spotlight. Part VI outlines the goals and mechanisms of the Stockholm Convention on POPs. This Article concludes by recommending improved communication and education regarding POPs, encouraging public and private incentives to develop environmentally sound, climate-friendly technologies, and exercising caution in developing the Arctic. 8. Id. at 9-10. 9. Id. at 11. 10. Hugo E. Weisberger, Mining; Manufacturing; Construction, 36 AM. ECON. REV. 438, 439 (1946) (reviewing WILLIAMS HAYNES, AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY: A HISTORY - 1912-1922 (1945)). 11. Id. at 440. 12. Id. 13. UNITED NATIONS ENV'T PROGRAMME, supra note 1. 14. Id. at 6. 15. WEINBERG, supra note 2, at 16. 2012] ARCTIC JUSTICE 59 I. POPs Pose Risks to Health and the Environment POPs are highly hazardous chemical pollutants that pose serious global threats. Four common features characterize all POPs.16 First, they are highly toxic and therefore have the potential to cause harm to human health and ecosystems." Second, POPs are persistent, lasting for years or even decades before degrading into less dangerous forms." They "resist physical, chemical, and biological degradation."19 Therefore, once a POP enters the body, it remains there for a long time. 20 Third, POPs are subject to long-range transport.2' They travel long distances and cause harmful contamination at locations far from where the chemical originally entered the environment.22 Air currents are the main vehicle for long-distance POP transpor- tation, but water currents and migratory species also contribute to POP transportation. Fourth, POPs bioaccumulate in fatty tissue.' They easily dissolve in fats and accumulate in these tissues in concentrations much higher than the concentrations in the surrounding environment.25 Their persistence and mobility make POPs globally widespread. 26 They are found in locations far from POP-using and -producing societies, most notably the Arctic." Because POPs are so prevalent, most fish, birds, mammals, and other wildlife are contaminated.2" The high body burden carried by human prey species produces contamination concentrations in our food high enough to harm us.29 POPs cause numerous human diseases, illnesses, and disorders. As carcinogens, POPs have been shown to cause breast and pancreatic cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and adult onset leukemia." POPs negatively impact 16. Id. at 10. 17. Id. 18. Id. 19. Id. 20. Id. 21. Id. 22. Id. 23. Id. 24. Id. 25. Id. 26. Id. at 8. 27. Id. at 11. 28. Id. at 8. 29. Id. 30. Id. 31. Id. 60 Law and Inequality [Vol. 30:57 the reproductive system as well, causing abnormal sperm, miscarriages, preterm deliveries, low birth weights, shortened lactation periods, and menstruation complications.32 Neurological disorders often attributed to POPs include attention deficit disorder, behavior problems (e.g. aggression and delinquency), learning disabilities, and impaired memory." POPs damage the nervous system and disrupt the endocrine system's hormone regulation." These chemicals also have led to developmental dysfunctions in fetuses and infants, immune suppression, and increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes, endometriosis, hepatitis, and cirrhosis." II. The Arctic Is Extremely Vulnerable to POP Accumulation Due to POPs' Highly Effective Transport Mechanisms and the Unique Food Priorities of Arctic Mammals POPs accumulate in northern latitudes through the global distillation process, ocean transport, rivers emptying into the Arctic, and migratory animals.3 6 Global distillation is the process by which POPs migrate from warmer to colder climates." This is driven by the prevailing ocean and wind currents that carry POPs into the Arctic where they are subsequently trapped by the cold climate.38 The high volatility of POPs allows them to evaporate and travel long distances on warm air currents and dust." When the temperature cools or rain falls, those airborne POPs settle back to earth."o If conditions later allow, POPs will re-evaporate 4 and again hop between the air and earth. 1 The cooler the climate, 4 the less evaporation occurs. 2 Therefore, cooler climates experience POPs settling permanently as they are less likely to be 32. Id. 33. Id. 34. Id. at 13. 35. Id. at 8. 36. SAMUEL C. BYRNE, PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN THE ARCTIC, ALASKA COMMUNITY ACTION ON TOXICS 3, available at http://www.ipen.org/ ipenweb/documents/pop%20documents/cop4 pops-arctic.pdf. 37. Id. 38. Frank Wania, Assessing the Potential of Persistent Organic Chemicals for Long-Range Transport and Accumulation in PolarRegions, 37 ENVTL. Scl. & TECH. 1344, 1344 (2003). 39. WEINBERG, supra note 2, at 11. 40. Id. 41. Wania, supra note 38, at 1349. 42. WEINBERG, supra note 2, at 11. 2012] ARCTIC JUSTICE 61 able to evaporate and continue migrating.' Also known as the "Grasshopper Effect," global distillation explains how contaminants fall in warm climates and move to colder climates." This process largely accounts for the severe POP contamination in the Arctic, far from where they are produced or used." Ocean transport is another key-albeit slow-mechanism for carrying contaminants into the Arctic ecosystem." Water-soluble pollutants in the air are transferred to the water through precipitation or the air-to-sea gas exchange.
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